Former governor of Imo state, Senator Rochas Okorocha has refuted the statement made by the Economic Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, that N7.9 billion was recovered from him.
The Head of the Port Harcourt zone of the commission, Usman Imam, had on Thursday said the agency recovered N7.9 billion from Okorocha while he was in charge of the Enugu zone of the commission.
But in a statement on Friday signed his Special Adviser on Media, Sam Onwuemeodo, the Senator representing Imo West Senatorial District asked the anti-graft agency to retract the statement and explain to Nigerians what truly happened.
Okorocha also dared the EFCC to publish his houses in Owerri and Abuja and other properties which it said it has marked for seizure.
He, however, blamed his ordeal on former administration of Emeka Ihedioha and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, who they said wrote a petition against Okorocha and his family.
The statement read: “The media had reported the Head of the Port Harcourt zone of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, (EFCC), Mr Usman Imam, to have claimed at a press conference, on Thursday, June 11, 2020, that he recovered N7.9 billion from the former governor of the state, Senator Rochas Okorocha while he was in charge of Enugu zone of the commission.
“He was also quoted to have talked about Okorocha’s properties marked in Owerri and Abuja, by the commission.
“And in reaction, we want to state as follows; “The EFCC as a commission or Mr Usman Imam as a person and Head of Enugu zone then, and today, that of Port Harcourt Zone, of the commission, never recovered N7.9 billion or any other amount of money, from Rochas Okorocha.
“We hold the EFCC and its personnel in very high esteem. And we expect the commission or Mr Imam to take our denial very serious, because Nigerians of goodwill would like to know who is saying the truth or who is lying.
“Where the commission finds out that it had misinformed the public and had also blackmailed the former Imo governor, perhaps unconsciously, we expect the commission or Mr Imam to do the needful, which is to retract the media statement and then tell Nigerians the correct story. The N7.9 billion in question must be in bank Accounts. Let the EFCC publish the Accounts’ Details without delay.”
